Eterneva is an Austin, TX Based Startup That’s Trying to Change the Way We Think About Grieving
With the turn of the 21st Century, innovations in the funeral industry became a necessity. Despite the current traditional methods, more people have expressed a desire to create more personal memorial services. These new services hope to improve the way people grieve and eventually heal after a loss.
Eterneva is one such company that seeks to make use of available technology to provide a unique experience, promising to revolutionize the death care industry.
Eterneva’s Creation
Adelle Archer and Garett Ozar founded the company in 2016 while creating a company concerned with the creation of synthetic diamonds. After Adelle lost a dear friend to her, she decided to find a more memorable way to remember the remarkable life of her friend and mentor. She then realized that turning her friend’s ashes into a black diamond was a more personal approach.
This led to the creation of Eterneva, a company that specializes in providing customized experiences during times of grief and need.
The memorial diamond creation process
Before the process begins, the family or interested individual receives a welcome kit that explains the whole process of creating a memorial diamond.
Once they confirm that they want a diamond, they will place a half-cup of ashes or a few strands of hair in a specialty package for postage. The amount utilized is minimal, allowing for the family or individual to remain with a large portion of the remains.
The customer will then receive regular email updates on the package’s location until it eventually reaches the Eterneva headquarters in Austin, Texas. The transport of the package usually takes a period of between 1-2 days. It maintains an ethical chain of custody backed by an exclusive contract that Eterneva possesses with FedEx.
The diamond creation process is divided into:
- Extraction of carbon
- Cutting and refining of the produced diamond
Extraction of carbon and diamond forming
The memorial diamond creation process beings with the extraction of carbon from the just arrived remains. The extracted carbon forms a “diamond seed” that is then encased in pure carbon and loaded into a diamond growth cell. The growth cell contains biocarbon, generic carbon, and diamond seed. Like the sand in creating a pearl, the seed provides a form for the carbon to take.
The diamond growth cell is a High-Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) machine that mimics the extreme conditions present in the Earth’s mantle during the formation of natural diamonds.
Cutting and refining
Once the rough diamond has finished forming, experts cut and polish the rough diamond to given specifications to create a unique and radiant diamond. The cut diamond is sent to a third-party grading organization named IGI (International Gemological Institute). Once graded, the diamond is then set into a ring or any desired jewelry.
During the whole process that takes seven to nine months, you receive regular video and photo updates regarding the creation process.
Reasons to choose Eterneva
Here are the top reasons to choose Eterneva services:
1. Offers a Modern Approach to Bereavement
The traditional view on death has been focused on the dead or dying rather than the grieving. Counselors and therapists alike minimize the grieving process, encouraging the mourners to “move on.”
This approach overlooks the psychological condition of humans harboring emotional attachments with loved ones despite their death. Without proper support, these attachments may become dysfunctional.
2. It’s a solution to Dysfunctional attachments
Some of the dysfunctional attachments that mourners may develop avoidant, anxious, and disorganized attachment. Avoidant attachments involve avoiding the reality of a loved one’s death, while mourners with anxious attachment develop an obsession with increasing their life’s longevity. Mourners with disorganized attachments avoid new attachments to prevent more losses over time.
However, research by Eterneva in collaboration with Dr. Cann on anchor objects such as memorial diamonds and urns seeks to better the attachments held by mourners.
Having a memorial diamond helps create healthier attachments with loved ones who live in memory; these attachments create a sense of joy for the bereaved as they get to be grounded in reality.
The memorial diamond serves as an “attachment token” that provides tangible reminders of death’s reality while enabling the mind to derive more joy from their memories.
3. Eases the Pain of Loss Through the Provision of Professional and Quality Services
Inspired by funeral homes, Eterneva seeks to provide transparent and dependable services that eventually ease the anxiety of grieving families.
The company emulates funeral homes through its use of clear-cut chain of custody protocols. The use of these protocols allows for a seamless experience as it becomes easier to track the progress of each task and what to expect from each stage.
4. Offers an Innovative Homecoming
Eterneva enhances its services by providing an innovative “Homecoming” process. The homecoming process involves the hand-delivery of each diamond within a ten-hour radius. This process allows for the founders to meet face-to-face with their customers, providing a personal experience. During homecoming, Adelle and Garret offer condolences to the families and gain valuable information to improve customer services and their company processes.
Since its inception, Eterneva has served over 700 families and expanded to 30 employees. The majority of Eterneva’s client base consists of the younger generation and comprises around 60 percent humans and 40 percent pets.